I had occasion to make an early call upon Mr. Hardcap on my way to the station the other morning. I knocked at the door, and Mrs. Hardcap opened it. I thought I never saw her look more becoming; a white handkerchief tied around her head, a common calico gown on, and broom in hand; but she was evidently greatly perturbed.
“Laws-a-mercy, Mr. Laicus! is that you?” said she, flushing to the roots of her hair, or rather to the bounds of her handkerchief. “To think you should ha’ caught me in this fashion. I tho’t it was the butcher boy with the meat for dinner, and I wouldn’t keep him a-waitin’.”
I made my apology as well as I could for having so surprised her, and asked for Mr. Hardcap, whom she told me I would find in the stable. So I followed the path around to the stable, and there I found Mr. Hardcap with overalls on, cleaning out the last night’s bedding from the stall.
“Good mornin’, Mr. Laicus,” said he. “I’m right glad to see you. Either you’re early or I’m late this mornin’. You don’t generally catch me doin’ this work arter breakfast, anyhow; but I kinder overslept myself this mornin’.” Whereupon he pulled off his buckskin glove and shook hands with me cordially; then, pushing back his hair, he leaned on his dung-fork, resting while I told him my errand.
As I came away I meditated on the difference which was a puzzle to me then, and has not become a whit less puzzling since. Why should Mrs. Hardcap be ashamed of her broom, and Mr. Hardcap not be ashamed of his dung-fork? Why should her handkerchief be any worse than his slouch hat, or her calico gown require any more apology than his overalls? Why should work be an honor to a man and a disgrace to a woman? Why should the husband not be ashamed to be caught in his garden, or his stable, or his counting-room, but the wife thinks it necessary to blush and apologize if she is caught in her kitchen or her chamber work?
The notion that work is disgraceful I can understand, though I don’t believe a bit of it. I can comprehend the consistency of the old-time aristocratic idea, which still lingers in England to-day, and which counts all industry as a symbol of the second class, and luxurious laziness as the mark of a noble birth. I can even see how the nobleman’s son should be willing to enlist as a midshipman on board the navy, and yet look down on the mechanic who helps build the ship on which he is to sail. He is at least self-consistent; he dishonors all toil. But by what process of subtle reasoning we draw a line and give honor to the male chemist in his laboratory, and refuse it to the female chemist in hers—the kitchen; give honor to the man who makes the garden beds out of doors, and refuse it to the woman who makes children’s beds indoors, I know not. Is medicine of more value than food? or are flowers worth more than children?
There is another distinction I am equally perplexed over: useful work seems to be regarded as dishonoring, ornamental work as very creditable. If I call on Mrs. Greer, and she is sewing on her husband’s shirts, she hustles them away—no, she doesn’t when I call, but she does when any one else calls; but Mrs. Wheaton does not put by her crochet work or her embroidery. When I found Mrs. Wheaton one evening last summer setting out flowers in the garden with her own white hands, she brushed off the dirt and reached out the tip of one finger to shake fingers with me in the most charming way and without the least embarrassment; but if I had caught her dusting or sweeping or cooking, she would never have forgiven me.
Being a man, I cannot be expected to understand these mysteries; but it is my private opinion, publicly expressed, that the ladies have themselves partly to thank for their endless troubles about servants. There is very little difficulty in getting good gardeners and even tolerable grooms and coachmen, and none whatever in getting clerks and salesmen and errand boys. We men regard work as honorable. But women conspire together to stigmatize all domestic work as a sort of disgrace. If they engage in such work at all, it is secretly, and they are humiliated if they are caught at it; and they do not allow their daughters to do it if they can help themselves; and then they wonder that it is so hard to find good cooks and housemaids. Pride, madam, is the greatest incentive to good work. The men enlist it on their side; you women enlist it against yours; and then you wonder that your servants take no pride in their work.
It seems to me one of the incidental disadvantages of what people call the “higher education for women” that it tends to increase this feeling. A young girl goes to boarding school—I beg pardon, to a female college—for three or four years. During all that time she is waited on by servants. They cook her meals; they wait on her at table; they make her bed; they sweep her room; and when she goes home she has a dressmaker to do her sewing; and all this time she is learning to look down upon the common work of housekeeping as a menial kind of drudgery. When at last she is married and begins life for herself, she has to unlearn a considerable part of her four years’ course, unless her husband can afford to provide her with servants to do all the housework, and even then she needs to unlearn her habit of thought and feeling about it in order to inspire her servants with the pride which is essential to success in any toil. For this reason I would like to see every public school adopt the fashion of Wellesly and South Hadley, and give their pupils some part of their own work to do. Perhaps they would learn a trifle less of Latin, Greek, and the higher mathematics; but this loss would be more than compensated for if they acquired the characteristics of King Lemuel’s virtuous woman, who “worketh willingly with her hands.”
There! that’s what one man thinks about it. And whatever the women may say, they may depend upon it, that’s what a great many men think about it who have not my privilege of saying what they think, and hiding their real name under a nom de plume.—Laicus in Christian Union.
A FROLIC THAT WAS NOT FUNNY.
By Mrs. H. P. I.
George Emery is my nephew. He isn't exactly the kind of boy I would like for my nephew; yet he is not a bad fellow. His mother calls him her “precious boy;” “a noble fellow, with just a little naughtiness;” but I hear that some people do not think so well of him.
Reports have reached us that he does not behave in school as a little gentleman ought to. The truth is George is more fond of fun than of study; and, worse yet, he has no reverence—that is, he has no respect for those who are older and wiser than himself. That, my dear children, is a very sad lack. If you have no reverence in your characters, you are very poor, though your fathers may be worth millions of dollars.
How I know that George has no reverence is because one day I heard him say to a white-haired old gentleman, who asked him the way to some place: “Follow your nose, old fellow, and you'll get there.” His mother insisted he must have said “Follow the road;” but I heard him very distinctly, and George did not deny saying “old fellow,” though he tried to get around the “nose.” This shook my faith in George, and I resolved to inquire into the stories I had heard about his conduct in school. I am sorry to say I learned that he threw spit-balls at his school-mates; pinned papers on their coats; marked their backs with chalk; tripped them when they passed him; talked about in a low, growling way, to disturb the school; and that his teacher had been so tormented by him she had not only scolded and punished him, but even threatened to expel him.
I asked George about these things. “It was all just so,” he said; “but school was so dull, and he wanted some fun.” “He didn't care a fig,” he said, “for Miss Adams” (his teacher).
“But you ought to care to please her,” I said, “She is trying to do a great deal for you.”
“I know I ought to: but I don't, and I can't, and I won't.”
I will tell you confidently, reader, that, though George was twelve years old, he did not know his multiplication-table, he read badly, and his spelling was about as bad as spelling can be. In a note he wrote me he spelled which “whitch,” school “schole,” sister “cister,” any “eny,” boat he spelled “bote,” says “sez,” and sugar “shuger.”
So I said to him: “George, the reason you spell so badly and can't learn the multiplication-table is because in school you study mischief, instead of your lessons.”
“I tell you, Aunt,” said he, “I hate books. I hate good scholars. I like a fellow who isn't afraid to do a funny thing.”
But one day something happened; something funny, which George did not enjoy. Miss Adams was called out from the school-room; and before leaving she said:—
“I wish George Emery to take my place on the platform and keep order till I return.”
George slunk down into his seat as far as he could, and wished there was a hole in the floor to let him through. He felt the eyes of all the school turned upon him. He heard the snickerings of his mates, and knew they were all thinking: “The worst boy in the school would make a pretty monitor!” But he began to feel that he was a coward, and that they would all call him one if he did not go; so he pulled himself out of his seat and walked swaggeringly to the platform and took the teacher's chair, trying to look as if he was master of the situation.
Miss Adams whispered a word to him and left the room. The girls bent their heads over their books, determined to be just as quiet and studious as if their teacher were present; but the boys had no such intention. In a moment spit-balls began to fly across the room, and even at George's head, and there was low laughter all through the room among the boys. Then they talked aloud and whistled, and the spit-balls flew faster and thicker.
Poor George! He felt as if he would sink through the floor. First he thought he would take no notice of the disturbance; but the noise grew louder. Then he thought he would leave the room; but that would be cowardly—he was ashamed to do that. Then he thought he would beg them to be quiet; but he remembered how many times Miss Adams had begged him to behave himself, when he was playing these same tricks, and he knew they would laugh at him. He felt that moment that it was, after all, a mean thing, and not a funny one, to insult a teacher by behaving badly, and he wished he had never done so.
The noise grew louder and louder. The laughing and talking and whistling and groaning seemed to increase, like a dreadful storm. A spit-ball struck George's forehead, and a voice called out: “Say, old boy, how do you like it? It's fun, isn't it?”
George wished he could wring the neck of every boy in the room. His face grew red and his eyes glowed like fire. He felt sick. At last he stood up before them and said:—
“Aren't you ashamed of yourselves! I should think you might behave yourselves, when the teacher has trusted to your honor!”
All the boys laughed, and called out: “Oh! you! Yes, you're a nice one to preach to us! Now you know how it feels!” and half a dozen other insulting sentences.
It suddenly occurred to him they were paying him off for his bad conduct in school. It did not soften his anger to know this, and I really believe he would have sprung at one or two of the ringleaders if just then the door had not opened and Miss Adams entered. She looked from the school to George, and to the boys again, who, though239quiet enough now, looked excited and somewhat ashamed.
Poor George could not say a word; but his red face and angry look told the whole story.
“Boys,” said Miss Adams, “it has not been very kind in you to distress George, when he was filling my place.”
“We thought ’twould be good for him,” whispered a bold little fellow on the front seat.
George went to his seat and put his head down upon his desk and secretly brushed some hot tears away from his eyes.
That was six weeks ago, and never since has George behaved badly in school. It was a dreadful experience for him; but it took some of the mischief out of him. He is on the best of terms with his teacher, who told me about this incident; and he has already learned as far as the nines in the multiplication-table.—Mrs. H. P. I. in the Independent.
THE GOLD AND THE DROSS.
By W. H. Colcord
BY W. H. COLCORD.
ALL is not gold that glitters;
Though it sparkle like diamonds of light,
Though its bursts of refulgence bright
May pleasantly dazzle the sight,
Yet, ’tis not conclusive quite
That the beautiful metal is gold.
Figs do not grow on thistles,
Though thistles thrive everywhere;
In sunlight’s brightest glare,
In swampland’s poisoned air,—
Thistles are always found there,
But their buds never figs unfold.
Mankind are not always men;
In appearance they often will vie
With the truest: and though they defy
The noblest in stations high,
And laud their own acts to the sky,
They are glitter without any gold.
Friends will sometimes prove false:
They meet us with seeming good cheer,
Their courteous ways we revere;
But when needed they never are near,
Their pretensions are all insincere,
They are sepulchers, empty and cold.
But all is not false and untrue,—
Rich gold is yet dug from the hill,
Figs flourish and ripen still;
And men can be found with a will
To do, to dare, and to fill
Every station by Heaven ordained.
ITEMS OF NEWS.
—Missouri has an immigration agent in Germany.
—A large emigration is in progress from Kansas to Wisconsin.
—Two million copies of the revised New Testament have already been sold in London.
—The United States Signal Service office will in future receive weather reports from Mexico.
—Thomas Sherman, the General’s only son, has just been ordained a Catholic priest at Baltimore.
—A Madrid dispatch says there is a deficit of $3,000,000 in the estimates for the fiscal year 1880-81.
—A bill introduced into the Vermont Legislature forbids running railroad trains and locomotives on Sunday.
—A new steamship line has been organized at Hamburg, and its vessels will soon be running to New York.
—Archbishop Purcell is sinking steadily, and lies at the Ursuline Convent in Cincinnati, in an unconscious state.
—Two strong shocks of earthquake occurred on the island of Chio, Friday evening, May 20. Several more houses fell.
—The United States Consul at Bangkok, Siam, refuses consular protection, and the use of the United States flag, to dealers in opium and liquors.
—In 1844 there were in this country forty miles of telegraph line. In 1880 there were 142,364 miles of line, and 350,018 miles of wire.
—A shoddy factory in Chicago has shredded up three million pounds of polluted street rags to make stuffings for cheap mattresses for people to sleep on.
—A dispatch from Vallejo, Cal., May 21, says: “The nights have been cold. Ice formed last night three inches thick in front of a store where water was left in a trough.”
—The Jewish Chronicle says there are ten weekly journals printed in Hebrew, and eight monthly magazines. Hebrew is hardly a “dead language” in all parts of the world.
—The total number of immigrants arriving in this country during the first quarter of 1881 is 45,543, an increase of 10,868 over the number of arrivals during the same period of 1880.
—Col. Thomas A. Scott, of the Pennsylvania railroad, and projector of the Texas Pacific R. R., died at Clifton, Pa., May 21. He had the reputation of being the best railroad manager in the country.
—The fate of Peru is still doubtful. Pierola’s party refuse to recognize the national defeat, and it is doubtful whether annexation to Chili, or at least a Chilian protectorate may not become unavoidable.
—The report of the Secretary of the Treasury shows that the government receipts last year from spirits, were $61,000,000; from fermented liquors, $13,000,000; from tobacco, $39,000,000; total, $113,000,000.
—A cave occurred in the Golden Terra mine, Terraville, D. T., on the evening of the 19th, just as the night force was going in. Thirteen men were imprisoned in the mine, of whom three were killed and five injured.
—The secretary of the Kansas State Board having the charge of the colored immigrants, reports that the Board has received, cared for, and distributed more than 100,000 of these people, and has been the means of turning 10,000 of them into other States.
—The business community at Cracow have been warned from Warsaw not to send Jewish travelers thither. Placards have been posted at all the street corners, inciting Christians to attack the Jews. Many refugee Jews have crossed the frontier in consequence.
—New York has double cause for alarm. Besides the unclean condition of her streets, which threatens to bring on a plague, it is alleged that the Croton water is impure. A good move toward cleaning out the streets would be to “clean out” a rabble of corrupt office holders.
—The Grand Duke Nicholas has been sentenced to imprisonment for life, on account of his connection with the Nihilists, and his supposed complicity in the murder of the Czar. Several high officers in the navy have been arrested, charged with being connected with Nihilistic plots.
—At a meeting of the Spanish-American Claims Commission, in Washington, May 21, Count Lowenhaupt, the umpire, awarded to Jose M. Macias, a naturalized citizen of the U. S., $225,000 for losses caused by the seizure of his sugar plantation near Matanzas, Mexico, in 1869.
—It is reported that there are numerous little saloons in Cleveland, Ohio, where ladies can enjoy a drink, and treat their friends. These saloons are not placed in public sight and properly called such, but are under the guise of bakeries and millinery stores, where the female tipplers can enjoy their “bitters” unperceived. They are said to be very popular.
—The steamship Ganos, from Matanzas for Boston, with a cargo of sugar, sunk 20 miles east of Boston, on the night of the 20th. The loss on the cargo is $350,000, and on the steamer, $160,000. The Ganos collided with the Warren Line steamer Pembroke, bound for Liverpool. The crew were all saved with the exception of one seaman. The Pembroke was not seriously injured.
—A company has been organized in Bradford, Pa., to work the placers of the Santa Rita mountains, 30 miles south of Tucson, Arizona. Heretofore the mines could not be worked successfully except in the rainy season, on account of lack of water, but the company propose to conduct water to them, and have shipped the necessary iron pipe. The placers are reported to be very rich.
—A dispatch from Cairo states that two pyramids at Sakkara, inclosing the tombs of the kings of the fifth dynasty, have just been opened. The mortuary chapels of each contain texts giving details of the religious belief of that age. The Masonic theory and all previous conceptions are entirely upset. Except the finding of the rosetta stone in 1799, no discovery in Egypt equals this in scientific value.
—The British Navy has, in the aggregate, 317,000 tons of armored ships, which cost the nation £18,000,000. England possesses 55 ironclads, exclusive of 10 vessels condemned. France has 53 vessels, including those now being built; Turkey, 24; Italy, 18, including the two most powerful fighting ships afloat; Germany, 12; Holland, 17; Austria, 14; Spain, 7; Denmark, 6; Sweden and Norway, 8; Greece, 3; Portugal, 1.
—Sunday, May 22, a fire was discovered in a wheat field near Peters’ Station on the Stockton and Copperopolis railroad. Before it could be extinguished, over 600 acres of grass and grain, including 200 acres of good wheat, were burned. The same day, as a pleasure excursion was passing Clyde, one of the party threw a lighted cigar stump from the window, which kindled a fire that consumed 400 acres of good wheat. The loss was $15,000.
—The London Morning Star characterizes the attitude of France as one of perfidy and unblushing falsehood. The New York Trib’s London correspondent says, however, that the English outcry against the seizure of Tunis by France, has necessarily diminished since the publication of dispatches, proving that the consent of England was pledged in advance by Lord Salisbury. But the general feeling remains that France has committed an act of wanton violence, cloaked till the last moment by false professions of innocence.
—It is only a question of time as to when the new Czar will be assassinated. The spectacle of 12,000 exiles on their way to Siberia, many of them on the mere suspicion of hostility to the government, has not tended to quiet the madness of the Nihilists, and they are dangerously active. A dispatch of the 17th, says that on the 12th one of the palace scullions, who has since been arrested, sprinkled arsenic over a bowl of salad of which Alexander is known to be fond. The attempt was detected. On the day previous the Emperor received an invitation to his own funeral. The same day an ensign found a mine of thirty-seven pounds of gunpowder under a stone bridge at the steamer landing, in the street leading to Tzarkalztorati way station.
Afflictions as Trials of Extraordinary Grace
Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.—Matthew Henry.
Nothing is ever done beautifully which is done in rivalry, nor nobly, which is done in pride.—Ruskin.
THE SANITARY DETECTIVE.
A NEW THING.
LOOK OUT FOR ADULTERATION!
It does no good to warn people against adulteration without giving them the means for detection. This is done by the Sanitary Detective, which affords the means for detecting
Adulterated Sugar and Syrups,
Arsenic in Wall Paper, Lead in Tinware,
Mineral Acids in Vinegar,
Copper in Pickles and Canned Vegetables,
Organic Matter in Water, etc.
The tests are simple, and can be satisfactorily employed by any intelligent person. They are put up in a neat case, with full directions accompanying each.
Published and for sale at this Office, and by “Review and Herald,” Battle Creek, Mich.
History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week in the period of 6,000 years. By Eld. J. N. Andrews. 528 pp. $1.00
The Sanctuary and the 2300 Days of Dan. 8:14. By Elder U. Smith. This work explains the past Advent movement, and makes plain the present position of those who wait for the Lord. 352 pp. $1.00
Thoughts on Daniel, critical and practical. By Elder U. Smith. An exposition of the book of Daniel, verse by verse. 384 pp. $1.00
Thoughts on Revelation. By Elder U. Smith. This work presents every verse in the book of Revelation with such remarks as serve to illustrate or explain the meaning of the text. 352 pp. $1.00
Life of Wm. Miller, with portrait. This book gives interesting sketches of the Christian life and public labors of this pioneer in the Advent movement in this country. 416 pp. $1.00
Life of Elder Joseph Bates, relating his experience of twenty-five years on ship-board, with incidents of his rise from cabin-boy up to master and owner. The closing chapters relate to his labors in the ministry and in the cause of temperance and other moral reforms. Fine tin paper, 352 pp. $1.00
Life Sketches of Elder James and Mrs. E. G. White. The early lives and Christian experiences of both are given in this volume. Their subsequent history is so connected with the cause, that this book gives an outline of the rise and progress of our people and our cause. $1.00. With fine steel portraits of both. $1.25
Thrilling Incidents in the political Life of Francesco Urgos, while a soldier with Garibaldi, including his perilous escape from the tyrants of Rome, and his subsequent travels in Africa and Syria. 328 pp. $1.00
The Biblical Institute. This work contains a synopsis of the lectures given at the Battle Creek College by Elder U. Smith, and at Biblical Institutes. 352 pp. $1.00
The Nature and Destiny of Man. By Elder U. Smith. This work treats on the great questions of the condition of man in death, and his destiny beyond the resurrection. 356 pp. $1.00
The Spirit of Prophecy: or, the Great Controversy between Christ and his angels, and Satan and his angels, in four volumes. By Mrs. E. G. White. These volumes cover the time from the fall of Satan to the destruction of sin and sinners at the close of the one thousand years of Rev. 20. Each, 400 pp.
Vol. I. Old Testament Facts to Christ. $1.00
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Vol. III. The Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, with the Lives of his Apostles. $1.00
Vol. IV. (In preparation.) $1.00
The Constitutional Amendment: A discussion between Elder W. H. Littlejohn and the editor of the Christian Statesman, on the Sabbath. 384 pp. $1.00
Spiritual Songs. A book of hymns and tunes. 537 hymns, 147 tunes, 416 pp. $1.00. Morocco, gilt. $1.50
The Song Anchor. A popular collection of songs for the Sabbath-school and praise service. 164 pp. 35 cts. Bound in muslin. 50 cts.
The Bible from Heaven. By Elder D. M. Canright. An argument to show that the Bible is not the work of men, but is in deed and in truth the work of God. 300 pp. 80 cts.
The Soul and the Resurrection, showing the Harmony of Science and the Bible on the Nature of the Soul and the Doctrine of the Resurrection. By J. H. Kellogg, M. D. 75 cts.
The United States in the Light of Prophecy: or, an exposition of Rev. 13 : 11–17. By Elder U. Smith. Dealing with our own land and applying to our time. Of surpassing interest to every American reader. 200 pp. 40 cts.
Thoughts on Baptism. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. The subject viewed in the light of the Bible and History. 186 pp. Bound in flexible cloth. 35 cts. Paper covers. 25 cts.
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TRACTS.—32 pages, 4 cents each. Redemption—The Second Advent—The Sufferings of Christ—The Present Truth—Origin and Progress of S. D. Adventists—The Celestial Railroad—The Seventh Part of Time—Ten Commandments not Abolished—The Two Covenants—Address to the Baptists—The Two Thrones—Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion—Samuel and the Witch of Endor—The Third Message of Rev. 14.
TRACTS.—24 pages, 3 cents each. The Second Message of Rev. 14—Who Changed the Sabbath?—The Lost-Time Question—Scripture References—The End of the Wicked—Infidel Cavils Considered—The Pocasset Tragedy—Sabbaton.
TRACTS.—16 pages, 2 cents each. Christ in the Old Testament—The Sabbath in the New Testament—The Spirit of Prophecy—The Old Moral Code not Revised—The Sanctuary of the Bible—The Judgment—Much in Little—The Millennium—The Two Laws—Seven Reasons—The Definite Seventh Day—Departing and Being with Christ—The Rich Man and Lazarus—Elihu on the Sabbath—First Message of Rev. 14—The Law and the Gospel.
SCHOOLS VS. CATHOLICISM.
The following is taken from an exchange:—
“A Roman Catholic paper says, that had the Church retained all her children, there should now be in the country from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 members of that Church, whereas there are now less than 7,000,000. It attributes the great losses, to the influence of the public schools.”
There are, no doubt, bad influences which meet the scholar in the public schools; and so there are everywhere. Wherever many children are thrown together there will be found an increase, first, of fun, and then, of mischief. But crime is not long prevented by ignorance; and our public schools have done and are doing very much good in placing a fair education within the reach of all the youth in the land. In the days of the greatest prosperity of the Catholic church, education was extended to a few only, while the mass of the people were kept in entire ignorance. This was not by accident, but by design. It was a saying that “ignorance is the mother of devotion.” We would amend it by saying, ignorance is the mother of superstition. It is yet a fact that among the common people great ignorance prevails in those countries which are the most under Catholic control. Professing opposition only to public schools, that church really fosters ignorance; and her schools are very largely nothing but schools of superstition.
The Catholic church counts as “her children” all born of Catholic parents. On this basis the above estimate is made. It would be interesting to know what would be the result of such an estimate on statistics of the Protestant population. Probably the result would be similar to that noticed above.
Catholics teach that they who are in the communion of their church are in the way of salvation, even though their lives would not bear close examination by a moral standard. If this were true, they would have just cause to deplore general education, as it is sure to open the eyes of “her children,” and lead them away from her fold. But as that which is called Christianity in Catholic countries has little even of the form of godliness, we rejoice in the light of that education which opens the mind for the reception of greater knowledge and more intelligent views of God’s word and its requirements.
But we must not make the mistake of thinking that the world is growing better because it is more enlightened. Responsibility is greatly increased by an increase of education and of religious privileges. It is as true to-day as it was in the time of our Saviour, that, “This is the condemnation, that light, is come into the world; and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.”
Request for Post Office Address of Z. Z. Dowd
We would be glad to learn the Post Office address of Z. Z. Dowd, formerly of Salem, Oregon.
CAMP-MEETINGS FOR 1881.
WISCONSIN, Neenah, " 9-14
MINNESOTA, " 16-21
DAKOTA, " 23-28
NORTH PACIFIC, Cornelius, " 21-28
QUESTIONS
By Editor
WE have received a number of questions of late, which will be answered in due time.
CONVINCED BY READING.
A LADY in Texas, sending a business card to this office, says:—
“I will try to not let my subscription run out, for I cannot get along without your paper, as I am the only Sabbath-keeper in this part of the country and I was convinced by reading. I have learned all the tracts and books I can get.”
BRISTOL, ENGLAND.
We have received notice from Mr. John Farrell, U. S. Consul at Bristol, Eng., that in connection with his consulate will be free reading rooms, where will be kept the principal papers of the United States connected with trade and commerce, with such other facilities for information as may be of interest to emigrants and travelers.
BAPTIST USAGE.
The following item we find in a daily paper:—
“The Boston Watchman, (Baptist) says of a young Baptist clergyman recently tried for murder: ‘That queer and uncertain thing, Baptist usage, declares that as long as he is not deposed by the church of which he is a member, he is a Baptist minister in good ecclesiastical standing. No Council can be called by any other Baptist church, nor by all the Baptist churches in the land. No Association has any disciplinary power in the case. As far as Baptist usage goes, he is as much a Baptist minister as Dr. Abbott of Oakland, or Dr. Frost of Sacramento. But the blood is on his hands. The crime is on his soul, and not all the waters of the Pacific ocean can wash it out.’”
This sounds almost like irony on the part of the Watchman. But we do not know but it is strictly true: that that is all square as Baptist usage. But whether it is or not, we know it is calculated to bring a deep reproach on the name of Christianity and the cause of Christ as represented by that church.
We distinctly remember that when we were in the Baptist church, the Association with which we stood connected assumed the right to adopt rules requiring that any church, in order to be represented therein, must be sound and consistent in faith and practice. How far “Baptist usage” has degenerated since that time we do not know. We fear that the barriers are broken down in various ways in most of the great churches of this age, and that a lack of spirituality and pure devotion is the result. How would the Methodist practice of to-day compare with the Discipline of the last century?
UPPER COLUMBIA CONFERENCE.
The first annual meeting of the Upper Columbia Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists is appointed to be held on the Dayton Camp-ground, June 1-7, 1881. All of our churches should elect their delegates in season, provide them with credentials, and furnish them with reports of the standing and condition of their respective bodies. Let each partially organized company send a representative.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.
UPPER COLUMBIA T. AND M. SOCIETY.
By G. W. Colcord
The first annual meeting of the Upper Columbia T. and M. Society will be held at the Camp-meeting at Dayton, June 1-7, 1881. All officers and members are requested to make an effort to attend that will be in keeping with the importance of this branch of our work.
G. W. COLCORD, Pres.
UPPER COLUMBIA CAMP-MEETING
By G. W. Colcord; Wm. Goodwin; Ambrose Johnson
Appointments.
UPPER COLUMBIA CAMP-MEETING.
The Upper Columbia Conference will hold its first annual Camp-meeting, the Lord willing, in Jesse Day’s Park, at Dayton, Columbia county, W. T., June, 1-7, 1881. Eld. J. H. Waggoner is expected, and others are also invited. We expect God’s blessing. Let there be an earnest effort to attend this annual gathering of the Seventh-day Adventists of this new field.
G. W. Colcord, Wm. Goodwin, Ambrose Johnson, U. C. Conf. Com.